Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Plain Cheap Pie Crust
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder together.
Add the butter and lard mixture to the dry ingredients.
Mix in the ice cold water until combined.
Roll out
Roll out the dough on a floured surface, folding in the edges.
Roll again until smooth.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pastry flour
- Provides the structure that holds the crust together once it is rolled and baked.
- Butter and lard
- Fat that keeps the crust tender and flaky by coating flour particles and limiting gluten development.
- Ice cold water
- Moistens the flour so the dough holds together while keeping the fat cold and separate.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that helps the crust rise slightly and stay light.
The step that matters
Mix in the ice cold water until combined.. Cold water keeps the fat in solid pieces, which melt during baking and leave flaky layers. Overmixing or warm water lets gluten develop, making the crust tough.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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